Heinz Heck

Heinz Heck (22 January 1894 - 5 March 1982, born in Berlin and died in Munich) was a German biologist and director of zoo in Munich ("Tierpark Hellabrunn"" in German). Heck worked on the "back breeding" projects of the Heck Horse, which strove to recreate the Tarpan (True European Wild Horse, ancestor of all European domestic horse breeds), and the Heck Cattle, which was to recreate the aurochs, both of which are extinct. His work, as well as that of his brother, Lutz Heck, has been criticised on grounds that once an animal is extinct, it ceases to be able to be recreated. This is contrary to Heck's view, which is that while genes still existed in an animal, it could still be recreated.

See also